Zephyr woke up with a snort, grogginess making it hard to keep his eyes open. The first thing he saw once some form of wakefulness came to him was that Flash’s heart had once more become inert. The second thing he noticed was how cold he was. He shivered violently in place as he tried to remove the wing covering him to grab any nearby blankets to cover up with. He was stopped by the firm press of Flash’s wing against his body.
“Don’t.” Flash intoned. “Will. Get. Blanket.”
“Oh, hey you’re using big words now,” Zephyr joked.
There was the barest uptick at the corners of Flash’s mouth before he reached over top of Zephyr and dragged an unbloodied blanket over. He bundled Zephyr up in the fabric, but it, unfortunately, did little to stop the cold from seeping into his skin.
“H-hey, sorry, stud, but I don’t suppose you could light the fire or something?”
“Can’t.” Flash replied. “Hold. Still.”
Uncertain of what Flash planned to do but trusting him regardless, Zephyr braced himself for whatever he planned to do. In one fluid motion, Flash grabbed Zephyr, brought him up onto his hooves, tucked him tightly under his bulk, and shielded him from the cold using his wings.
Almost immediately, Zephyr wanted to throw up. The quick motion had given him a bad case of vertigo and the only reason he wasn’t back on the floor was because Flash held him firmly in place.
A quick glance around the living area revealed why he was in such a state. The fire had long gone out, buried under piles of snow that had flooded in from the deeper reaches of the cabin. Whatever way the zombie had come in had brought the snow with him.
“I-I need—” A cold gale blew across him, derailing his train of thought. “I-I can’t remember. It’s s-so cold.”
Keeping Zephyr protected within his embrace, Flash maneuvered both of them to the nearby dresser. Opening the top drawer, Flash removed Zephyr’s winter clothes and dressed Zephyr in them as quickly as he was able. After bundling him up, Flash enveloped him in his warm embrace.
After a time, feeling returned to Zephyr’s body.
“Okay, that’s much better.” Zephyr breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced over Flash’s body and excitedly exclaimed, “Oh, hey! You’re all healed up!”
“Zombie.” Flash stated.
“Zombies can heal fast?”
Flash grunted.
“Right, of course. Speech still a problem, huh?” Zephyr chuckled lightly. “No worries, we’ll work on it later. For now, what do we do? I guess we could start by fixing the holes?”
“Leave.”
“The Cabin?”
A grunt.
“To where?” Zephyr asked. “Pretty sure the backwoods of Vanhoover isn’t the only place under a death blizzard right now.”
“Sun. Spot.”
“Where’s that?”
“Mountain.”
Zephyr wracked his brain for a moment. “Canterlot?”
Another grunt.
“Well, that sounds promising. Can’t go wrong with a place called the sun spot.” Zephyr scrunched up his face. “Wait, but how are we even going to get there?”
“Outside. Together.”
“Wait, you mean we’re gonna trek through the snow?!” Zephyr exclaimed. “That’s miles away! I’m weak-willed and boned! It’ll take us—”
His hysterics were momentarily interrupted by Flash leaning in and kissing him full on the lips. It was a long sensual kiss that told Zephyr everything he needed to know about the journey ahead. Flash pulled back leaving a somewhat red and flustered Zephyr.
“Together.” Flash repeated.
Which meant that Tartarus or high water, Flash was gonna get them both there safely.
“Okay, yeah, okay!” Zephyr said, excitement rising as his confidence grew. “We’ll go to Canterlot. I mean, come on. This is like the dream team. Zephyr and Flash! Nothing can stop us when we’re together, right?”
The corners of Flash’s mouth flicked up for a moment. Understanding the meaning, Zephyr returned his smile with a wide one of his own.
“Right. So, we just pack some supplies before heading out?”
Both stallions turned to look at the kitchen to see the entire room buried under snow and a newly shattered window indicating the source of said cold invasion.
“A quick stop in Vanhoover then.” Flash grunted in agreement. “Well, I’ll just grab my mane brush and we can be— hey!”
Dragging Zephyr after him with a wing, Flash made his way toward the front door, ignoring his protests. He eventually relented and trotted the rest of the way, a pronounced pout on his face.
They stood before the threshold to the outside, side-by-side. Zephyr turned to Flash.
“Before we go out into the cold and those stupid trees, I just want to clarify something. Are we dating?”
Flash leaned over and kissed Zephyr on the lips again.
“Woo! Okay, yeah, that’s what I thought. Just wanted to check that I wasn’t reading the mood wrong on that one.” Zephyr puffed himself up and took a step out of the cabin. “On—”
He tripped over the bottom edge of the door frame and landed head-first into the snow. Flash was quick to pull him out, dust the snow off, and then wait patiently for Zephyr to finish.
“—ward!” Zephyr finished.
Thus Zephyr and his undead colt friend began their journey to the Sun Spot. Together surely nothing bad would happen. Surely.